LOS ANGELES — The Screaming O has announced its partnership with the UCLA Art & Global Health Center and AMP!, a performance-based sex education program for high school health curricula.
The company said that as an official “Safe Sex Instigator,” it will help the team expand its presence while opening dialogues about sexual health and happiness, acting as a strategic ally to inspire a safer and sexier L.A.
Established in 2009, the AMP! program uses a combination of humor and entertainment through its Sex Squad, an undergraduate performance group dedicated to shining a brighter light on sexual health and safe sex topics, including condom use, STI and AIDS prevention, and the power of masturbation.
The program's approach to sex-positivity was a perfect complement to its fun messaging, The Screaming O noted, and when the opportunity to collaborate arose, the two immediately got to work.
“Spreading a sex-positive, safe-sex message is our No. 1 goal, and it’s an honor to join UCLA and its Sex Squad to support such an innovative approach to sex education,” The Screaming O President Justin Ross said. “The Sex Squad’s work is transformational and educates and inspires young adults to think and talk about sex in ways their parents probably never did, and The Screaming O is proud to be a part of that.”
As a Safe Sex Instigator, The Screaming O will help enable the UCLA Art & Global Health Center to bring this unique program throughout Los Angeles Unified District high schools and reach an additional 60,000 students via a virtual model. Supplementing existing health programs, the Sex Squad travels to schools across the county — with sister squads in Chapel Hill, Atlanta and Mexico City — and performs informative sex-ed skits. The Sex Squad covers topics ranging from first-time sex to body image and arouses dialogues about issues and concerns that typically remain unspoken, or cloaked in stigma.
“The Screaming O’s support will help the Sex Squad grow its programs and increase its reach, changing the lives of college students and high school students by creating space for them to take control of their own sexual health,” Elisabeth Nils, director of development at the Art & Global Health Center, said.
She added, “We believe that open communication about sex creates the possibility for people to boldly be themselves and advocate for their own rights. That same radical self-acceptance also encourages people to say what they do — and do not — want, and for those who choose to be sexually active, that means better, more pleasurable sex. Ultimately, pleasure and sexual health are the closest of allies, and that’s why collaborating with The Screaming O makes so much sense.”
The Screaming O added that it is gearing up for UCLA’s upcoming “We’re Glad You Came” Valentine’s Day event, an annual stage show inspired by the romantic holiday season that invites audiences to celebrate sex with humor, entertainment and some sexy swag from The Screaming O. The public event is scheduled Feb. 14 and 15 hosted on the UCLA campus.
“The goal of the Valentine’s Day show is to show how much fun open conversation about sexual health can be,” Sex Squad Director Robert Gordon, said. “If we laugh at fear and taboo, we can not only take better care of our bodies, but feel better in them as well. We can be happier healthier advocates for ourselves and each other, and the Valentine’s Day event is about embodying all of these ideas in a fun celebration.”
The “We’re Glad You Came” live shows are scheduled Feb. 14 and 15 from 6-7:30 p.m. in the Glorya Kaufman Hall at UCLA. Tickets can be purchased for $6 in person or online.
Also planned are fundraisers, a luau, a Sexy Scavenger Hunt and an Arty Orgy activist art exhibition, all free to the public.
More information about the UCLA Sex Squad can be found here.
